Liz Smith Column - She Gets So Emotional!

'Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes/ Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated/The bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, so hallow'd and so gracious is the time." Yes, this is from "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare.

But what did Hamlet know? He equivocated and never had a chance to make a Christmas list, have his credit cards explode or face the pressure about to be exerted on us here during this moment between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.

Still, ring silver bells!

SO, DIANE SAWYER did the impossible! She snagged Whitney Houston, and you can see it for yourself Wednesday at 9 p.m. on "PrimeTime: Special Edition." Herein, Sawyer says Whitney addresses head-on the widespread rumors of drug use, her marriage, her relationship with Daddy and other problems. The sit-down was conducted at Whitney's home in Atlanta.

Sawyer asks the singer if, looking back, "Do you ... do you apologize, do you ... " Whitney answers, seeming to address her public: "Yeah, there are things I apologize for. Like [canceled] concert dates. There was things I apologized for, because the people really mattered to me. They mattered to me. And I know they came out to see me. And I apologize for that. I'll make it up to you. But that's the only people in the world, the public, the fans, are the people that I apologize to. Because if I don't have my best to give, then I can't give it to them. I want them to have the best of me. And if I'm not the best of me, I don't want to step out there and do it. I won't. So know that it's because of that. Not because I don't love you. But because I don't have the best to give."

You were expecting maybe breast beating, mea culpas, shocking revelations? I'm sorry this is all I have, all I could get. This and the fact that Whitney adds, "Some people take the title [diva] and use it very lightly and loosely these days. So I'm not sure whether or not I want to claim it again."